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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24974455">careful creature</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/RosemaryDaisy/pseuds/RosemaryDaisy'>RosemaryDaisy</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Runaways (TV 2017)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alex Wilder (Mentioned) - Freeform, F/M, Fluff, I can't be the only one who's thought about this, Molly Hayes | Molly Hernandez (Mentioned) - Freeform, Old Lace (Mentioned), Post-Finale, no sex in this though it is about sex</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-06-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 01:00:47</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,430</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24974455</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/RosemaryDaisy/pseuds/RosemaryDaisy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Turns out safe sex means something a little different when your girlfriend is psychically linked to a dinosaur.</p>
<p>"Oh my god! You've been giving my pet dinosaur orgasms?" </p>
<p>Chase brought his hands up. "Okay - take a breath. I - I think so? Not intentionally! But come on, Gert, you guys are connected! What did we think was gonna happen?"</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Chase Stein/Gertrude Yorkes</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>40</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>careful creature</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The truth is, it took them kind of a long time to figure it out. </p>
<p>Chase didn't start getting suspicious until a few weeks after they defeated Morgan. It doesn't matter who the couple is, it's gonna take a while to process the simultaneous confirmation that one of you died in an alternate timeline while the other was spurred by that death to <em>invent time travel</em> before arriving and dying in your timeline. But eventually the grateful and white-knuckled embraces of those first nights gave way to less chaste but even more affirming nights together. And no one could blame him for being a little preoccupied with having Gert - god <em>Gert</em> - back in his arms.</p>
<p>Still, the second time he went down on Gert and her peak coincided with a dinosaur-sized crash from downstairs, he knew something was up. </p>
<p>The next morning Chase had a quick and discrete conversation with another member of their newly reunited family, before returning upstairs to broach the topic with Gert.</p>
<p>--</p>
<p>No. Absolutely not. </p>
<p>"Oh my god! You've been giving my pet dinosaur orgasms?" </p>
<p>Chase brought his hands up. "Okay - take a breath. I - I think so? Not intentionally! But come on, Gert, you guys are connected! What did we think was gonna happen?"</p>
<p>She couldn't stop her feet from backing away into the corner. It's what her brain was trying to do. Her brain was literally trying to jump out of the way of this high speed train of a horrible thought. This was Too Weird. </p>
<p>"No, no, no, no, no." </p>
<p>"Gert - " Chase was slowly walking towards where she'd retreated. </p>
<p>"Nope! Oh my god!" </p>
<p>"C'mon, we can figure this out. I mean, it's kinda funny after you get over the shock - "</p>
<p>Gert cut him off. "I'm gonna decide if this is funny or not, Chase. Don't give me that look."</p>
<p>Chase immediately cleared the beginnings of a grin off his face. "Okay. I get it. I was freaked when the thought first occurred to me. I'm sorry." </p>
<p>Silence reigned in the room for a few moments before Gert's back finally hit the wall and she slid to the floor with a groan. </p>
<p>"Why?" She dragged out the one syllable word the whole way down, cutting herself off when she landed with a thud. "Why can't I ever just be normal?" </p>
<p>"Hey, hey." Chase crouched in front of her and tried to put his hand on her shoulder before thinking better of it. "We left normal so far behind us I don't even remember what it looks like. I don't want normal."</p>
<p>"Oh, and <em>this</em> is what you want?" Gert started gesturing to herself but stopped before the dopey smile could fully materialize on her boyfriend's face. He was surely about to say something reassuring and sentimental but she put her hand over his mouth. </p>
<p>She'd spent too long working to accept his feelings for her. Each day that passed she was more and more trusting of his love for her, but sometimes she still had to swim upstream against her doubtful instincts. "Wait." She took a deep breath. "I know that you want me." She returned his lovesick smile for a second before wincing as a thought came to her. "Actually, turns out I've got a very satisfied dinosaur downstairs who can attest to that fact." </p>
<p>Chase moved from squatting to sitting next to her along the wall, matching Gert's groan from earlier and dropping his face into his hands. "Honestly I think this is more embarrassing for me." He mumbled through his closed fingers. "Back when we first came to the Hostel I remember bragging to Molly about how Lace was starting to like me more." He straightened his back in time to see Gert's eyes widen and her lips form a sort of sympathetic grimace. "Yeah. Little did I know I was inadvertently using sex to get in the good graces of your pet."</p>
<p>"Aw, Chase, it's okay! I'm sure she also really appreciates the head scratches and beef jerky you give her!" A kind of manic giggle escaped Gert's lips before her face returned to an unfocused and vaguely horrified expression. "How did I not notice this before?" </p>
<p>"Well..." Chase looked both mildly afraid and a little smug before continuing. "Hopefully your mind isn't that focused on your connection to Lace when we're, um - <em>occupied</em> - in bed." </p>
<p>A light slap to the knee was Chase's punishment for this allusion to his sexual prowess - one he gladly accepted since it was accompanied by a huffed laugh and fond eye roll from Gert. </p>
<p>"Not what I meant Casanova. Although, actually, you're right. I can tell you this because I believe in the importance of frank, open discussion and regular, honest feedback in a healthy sexual relationship. I'm not really thinking about anything other than you or the way you make me feel when we're -" another huff, another eye roll, "- <em>occupied</em>."</p>
<p>Chase literally goddamn <em>fist pumped</em>. </p>
<p>"Knew it." He turned and opened his hand before bringing it to rest on Gert's bent knee. "And since I also believe in honest feedback," Chase winked goofily and continued, "let me tell you that we don't really need to be in bed for me to only be thinking about you and the way you make me feel."</p>
<p>Following this sufficiently corny speech Chase leaned forward on his knees and brought his lips to Gert's in a kiss that she was eagerly responding to until - </p>
<p>"Ugh!" Gert lightly shoved Chase back and he knelt on his knees in front of her. "Well, <em>now</em> I'm certainly thinking about Old Lace! How are we ever supposed to have sex again if I'm thinking about my dinosaur getting psychic-link-lucky in the other room?" </p>
<p>"Okay!" Chase jumped to his feet and extended his hands for Gert to grab. "I've thought about that and I actually have an idea." </p>
<p>--</p>
<p>After settling on the couch on the other side of what Gert was happy to again call <em>their</em> room, Chase started with a question.</p>
<p>"So, you remember our first time?" </p>
<p>"Literally how could you ask me that?" </p>
<p>"Okay, sorry, stupid question. Well, I think that night is the key. I mean, a super important night for a lot of reasons, to be fair. But I also think it's the key to figuring out our little dino-bonding issue. Tell me, what was different about that night?"</p>
<p>Gert shot him an unimpressed look. "Oh, I don't know. Was it that they served blue punch at the dance instead of the classic pink? I'm pretty sure the sky was unusually clear for a construction site in the middle of LA, was that it? Oh wait! Maybe it was the alien-powered, tech-aided face-off between ourselves and our band of morally deficient parents."</p>
<p>"No, no and no." Chase threw his arm across the back of the couch and Gert took the opportunity to lean back into his chest. "I mean with us."</p>
<p>Gert snuggled a little further into Chase and grabbed his hand so she could wrap his arm around her. "Well, for one, we had sex on the floor whereas now we have sex in our really cool bed."</p>
<p>Chase smirked even though Gert couldn't see it. He could tell that Gert had already figured out the solution and was just teasing him now. Her hands were calmly brushing up and down each of his fingers in turn. Her feet had stopped twitching along to the fast-paced tune of her anxiety. What had taken him most of a sleepless night to put together was probably apparent to her the second he mentioned their first night together.</p>
<p>"Alright, alright. It was that we weren't under the same roof as Old Lace. She was in the car while we were in the hotel. It's a proximity thing."</p>
<p>"Exactly. I don't know how far away she has to be, but Alex confirmed that Lace wasn't acting weird in the trunk of the car while they were waiting for us."</p>
<p>"Well thank god for - wait." Gert tensed and turned in Chase's embrace so she could see his face. "You talked to Alex about this?" </p>
<p>"What, would you have preferred I ask Molly?" The position of his eyebrow made the rhetorical nature of his question pretty damn clear, so Gert contented herself to simply grumbling and relaxing back into his arms. </p>
<p>--</p>
<p>So now they have a system. Condom? Check. No impressionable little sisters within earshot? Check. A psychically-sent directive for Lace to go hunting outside the bounds of their psychosomatic connection but still close enough if Gert needs to purposefully reach her?</p>
<p>Check.</p>
<p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Once this thought occurred to me I just couldn't shake it! I find it both horrible and hilarious. I'm new to the fandom and the pairing, and though I've done some pretty serious reading I haven't found anything that addresses this particular *issue*. If someone's already done this please point me towards the fic -- I'd love to know if anyone else's mind is in this particular gutter with me.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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